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Page 396 - ... twere, the mirror up to nature ; to show virtue her own feature, scorn her own image, and the very age and body of the time his form and pressure. Now this overdone or come tardy off, though it make the unskilful laugh, cannot but make the judicious grieve; the censure of the which one must in your allowance o'erweigh a whole theatre of others.

Page 236 - Kasru-l-kholqfd (the hall of the Khalifs), the roof of which was of gold and solid but transparent blocks of marble of various colours, the walls being likewise of the same materials. In the centre of this hall, or, according to some, on the top of the above-described fountain, which is by them placed in this hall, was fixed the unique pearl presented to An-ndssir by the Greek emperor Leo,16 among other valuable objects.

Page 271 - What can you oppose to them? You have no other weapons but your swords, no provisions but those that you may snatch from the hands of our enemies ; . . . . do not think that I impose upon you a task from which I shrink myself, or that I try to conceal from you the dangers attending this our expedition ; but know that if you only suffer for awhile you will reap in the end an abundant harvest of pleasures and enjoyments.

Page 148 - covered himself with feathers for the purpose, attached a couple of wings to his body and, getting on an eminence, flung himself down into the air, where, according to the testimony of several trustworthy writers who witnessed the performance, he flew a considerable distance, as if he had been a bird. But, in alighting again on the place whence he had started, his back was very much hurt for, not knowing that birds when they alight come down upon their tails, he forgot to provide himself with one.

Page 139 - ... his power and influence had no limits, and he was preferred and distinguished in all the occasions of life. •• Owing to this, rich men in Cordova, however illiterate they might be, encouraged letters, rewarded with the greatest munificence writers and poets, and spared neither trouble nor expense in forming large collections of books ; so that, independently of the famous library founded by the...

Page 273 - Roderic fell upon the men in the first ranks, he was horrorstruck, and was heard to exclaim, — " By the faith of the Messiah ! These are the " very men I saw painted on the scroll found in the mansion of science at Toledo...

Page 239 - Travellers from distant lands, men of all ranks and professions in life, following various religions, — princes, ambassadors, merchants, pilgrims, theologians, and poets — all agreed that they had never seen in the course of their travels anything that could be compared to it. Indeed, had this palace possessed nothing more than the terrace of polished marble overhanging the matchless gardens, with the golden hall and the circular pavilion, and the works of art of every sort and...